SON OF HEAVEN

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 147, 24 June 1933, Page 5

SON OF HEAVEN

EMPEROR OF JAPAN

BREAKS WITH TRADITION

AN ALLY OF ENGLAND

The first breath of spring is softly playing to the lilt of world-old songs on the magic harp of the gnarled pine trees which stand aslant over the azure moat encircling the Imperial Palace of Chiyoda. There before our wondering gaze is to be seen many a beautiful water-fowl, lying half-awake, halfadream, side by side with sacred storks that brave the centuries beneath the mellow Eastern skies —in the very heart of Tokio—the while the smiling sun, neither warm nor cold, pours down its shimmering beams of gold upon tho whole enchanted garden within, writes Jonnoske Komai, the Japanese poet, in the "Daily Mail." Here, sheltered from the onslaught of the clanging, the incongruous, toilsome speed of our day by the Guardian Bridge, "Nijuh-Basi," coupled with the time-honoured Towers of Tenshu, with their protecting "arms from Heaven" outstretched from the corners of the long stone walls; sheltered, too, in the deep woods in the awe-inspiring recesses of Japan's ancient castle—the Emperor's Buckingham Palace—that has withstood unshaken the severest of earthquakes and storms, the Emperor Hirohito reigns supreme over Dai Nippon and her 85,000,000 people. Born on April 29, 1901, three years prior to,the Japanese victory over the Russians in Manchuvia, as the son and heir of the Emperor Taishoh, his Majesty during his boyhood received the ordinary course of education under the tutorship of Admiral Togo and General Nogi. The former is the Japanese Nelson, having won the unique triumph of sending the Russian Baltic Squadron to the bottom of the Sea of Japan, while the latter was the hero of Port Arthur in 1904-5, when the Muscovites wore- completely frustrated in their design, to possess Manchuria for all time. VISIT TO ENGLAND. The Emperor not only shared his learning with other boys at the Peers' School in Tokio, but also surpassed all precedents in the long annals of some 3000 years of our land by crossing the sundering seas and setting his foot in Europe. In 1921, as our Crown Prince, he paid an historic visit to England, his old and trusted ally in the West, whose Japanese Alliance had maintained the peace of the Far East for twenty years —the very alliance which, during his father's reign, rendered such invaluable services to the cause of the Allies, so much so that Kiaochau, the former German Gibraltar in the East, was transferred as a gift to Japan at Versailles. _ The Emperor also broke with convention by choosing his own bride, by refusing :to comply with many earnest wishes that, in accordance with ancient custom,': his Empress should be chosen by the Court officials and the Elder Statesmen. He married, in fact, the Princess Naga-ko on January 26, 1924, and the event won for him the universal applause of Japan. The fact that our Emperor entertains a sincere admiration and brotherly affection for Great Britain'"'is largely due to his personal contact with the King and Queen, the Prince of Wales, and other members of the British Royal Family, as well as with the people of England, ever the champions of fair play and common sense. The Emperor sent his two brothers iv swift succession to England—Prince Chichibu and Prince Takamatsu, the latter accompanied by Princess Takamatsu—in order to study the very cordial and friendly relations that exist between your Royal Family and their people, as the Emperor himself had acquired in person some first-hand knowledge of the relationship between the English monarch and his subjects. JAPANESE BELIEFS. Nature appears to favour the Nipponese people by reminding them of the basic truth on which the peace and welfa.e- of Japan's society is founded. The first cock-crow in the morning sounds to the Japanese ear as kokka-koh-koh, which means "Filial piety is the root "of national prosperity." Further, the chirping of the sparrows on the Japanese sloping roofs sends as the first greeting, chuli-chuh, which reminds us Japanese of loyalty and faithfulness to our ruler—the truth transfused into our lives and brought down unbroken for sacred centuries —since the days when the first Emperor Jimmu established the sunrise Yamato-Land of Nippon 660 years before Christ! We love to believe the legend' that the tutelary deity of all Japan is the Sun Goddess, the source of life, joy, health, peace, rand prosperity throughout the East, who sent down one of her sons to found.the Land .of the Rising Sun and entrusted him with the three sacred treasures, the Sword, the Jewel,, and the Mirror.: These three divine symbols are the august emblems of our Imperial Family to this very day. As long as we Japanese keep them intact we shall never cease to regard our Emperor as the Son of Heaven, descendant of ten score generations of sovereigns. We believe that the three symbols represent the essence of true civilisation, peace, order, and justice. May I continue to cry " Tennoh-Heika Banzai!" ("Long live our Emperor!") till pebbles into huge rocks grow, mosscovered by the years.